CAA News Today
Scherezade Garcia-Vazquez
posted Dec 03, 2019
STATEMENT
I am running for the CAA Board because, as both an artist and an educator, my mission is to cultivate a creative space for all further. Working under an art institution as an Assistant professor and mentor regularly teach me this; that creative opportunity, freedom, and accessibility are of utmost importance. One of the most rewarding experiences for me has been teaching diverse groups of first-year students, and senior thesis students from all over the world and developing lesson plans for inter-disciplinarian practices and Art History. This environment profoundly resonates with my creative work around the politics of inclusion within my own art practice. In addition to serving as an educator, I have extensive advising experience with students of color as coordinator of the Altos de Chavon/Parsons partnership, advising Dominican and Latinx students through their college experience. Through this mentoring experience, I have also reached out to African American, Asian, and Middle Eastern students to navigate them through school and make sure their communities are represented. I also organize lectures and activities to both maintain and cultivate those communities within the university to help expose them to opportunities within their fields. As a board member, my immediate priorities would include diversifying our membership through community outreach, artistically and politically engaging more people, and facilitating more democratic decision-making within a renowned association. I am eager to play a role in utilizing the CAA’s resources to continue supporting artists, aligning myself with its academic, creative, and professional values. I believe the CAA needs more artists serving on its board to ensure a cohesive, effective, and grounded advocacy of the arts. The CAA is the body that ties our art advocacy work to our communities. I wish to uphold its inclusive legacy.